TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present invention relates to wireless communications technologies, and in particular,
to a control information sending or receiving method, an apparatus, and a system.
BACKGROUND
[0002] With the development of global wireless communications technologies, a new-generation
network gradually steps into people's life. In addition, existing networks will still
provide some services for terminals. Therefore, in the future, coexistence of a plurality
of types of networks is an inevitable trend. A scheduling resource time granularity,
such as a transmission time interval (transmission time interval, TTI), defined for
the new-generation network may be different from that defined for an existing network.
For example, to reduce a transmission latency, the scheduling resource time granularity
defined for the new-generation network is shorter than that defined for the existing
network.
[0003] Information cannot be securely and reliably transmitted on a network due to a factor
such as network overload or external interference caused to a transmission environment.
This results in a severe consequence when the information is control information.
[0004] WO 2016/064049 relates to a method for transmitting downlink data. The eNB transmits first downlink
data through a PDSCH region according to a radio frame structure based on a first
TTI, and transmits second downlink data through a short PDSCH region according to
a radio frame structure based on a second TTI. The DCI related to the second downlink
data can be transmitted through a PDCCH.
SUMMARY
[0006] The present invention provides control information sending and receiving methods
and apparatuses, as per the appended claims, to ensure reliable transmission of control
information on a network.
[0007] According to a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a control
information sending method. The method includes: determining, by a base station, a
first resource in a first network, where the first resource is located in a first
scheduling resource time granularity of the first network, and the scheduling resource
time granularity of the first network comprises a plurality of first resources, and
the plurality of first resources are grouped into a first resource set; and sending,
by the base station, downlink control information of a second network to a terminal
on the first resource, where the downlink control information sent on the first resource
is used to schedule a resource in a first scheduling resource time granularity of
the second network, and a length of a scheduling resource time granularity of the
first network is different from a length of a scheduling resource time granularity
of the second network, and wherein before the sending, by the base station, downlink
control information of a second network to a terminal on the first resource, the method
further comprises: sending, by the base station, configuration information to the
terminal, wherein the configuration information is used to indicate a location of
the first resource set to the terminal.
[0008] According to a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a control
information receiving method. The method includes: determining, by a terminal, a location
of a first resource in a first network, where the first resource is located in a first
scheduling resource time granularity of the first network, the scheduling resource
time granularity of the first network comprises a plurality of first resources, and
the plurality of first resources are grouped into a first resource set; and receiving,
by the terminal, downlink control information of a second network that is sent to
the terminal by a base station on the first resource, where the downlink control information
sent on the first resource is used to schedule a resource in a first scheduling resource
time granularity of the second network, and a length of a scheduling resource time
granularity of the first network is different from a length of a scheduling resource
time granularity of the second network. Wherein the determining, by a terminal, a
location of a first resource in a first network comprises: receiving, by the terminal,
configuration information sent by the base station, wherein the configuration information
is used to indicate a location of the first resource set to the terminal.
[0009] According to the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present invention,
the base station determines a resource in the first network, and sends control information
of the second network on the resource, so that scheduling is implemented across two
networks with different scheduling resource time granularities. Therefore, control
information can be transmitted when the second network encounters a problem such as
overload or low reliability of communication, thereby ensuring that the control information
of the second network can be accurately transmitted to user equipment.
[0010] Because the length of the scheduling resource time granularity of the first network
is different from the length of the scheduling resource time granularity of the second
network, scheduling efficiency is improved when the scheduling resource time granularity
of the first network includes a plurality of first resources.
[0011] Also, the terminal can learn of the location of the first resource set on the first
network, so that the terminal obtains the downlink control information of the second
network from the first network.
[0012] In an implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect of the embodiments
of the present invention, the configuration information includes at least one of time-domain
location indication information of the first resource set and frequency-domain location
indication information of the first resource set.
[0013] In an implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect of the embodiments
of the present invention, the length of the scheduling resource time granularity of
the first network is N times the length of the scheduling resource time granularity
of the second network, and the first scheduling resource time granularity of the first
network includes N first resources, where N is a positive integer greater than 1.
[0014] According to the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present invention,
the base station determines a resource on the first network, and sends control information
of the second network on the resource, so that scheduling is implemented across two
networks with different scheduling resource time granularities. Therefore, control
information can be transmitted when the second network encounters a problem such as
overload or low reliability of communication, thereby ensuring that the control information
of the second network can be accurately transmitted to user equipment.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0015] To describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or
in the prior art more clearly, the following briefly describes the accompanying drawings
required for describing the embodiments or the prior art. Apparently, the accompanying
drawings in the following description show merely some embodiments of the present
invention, and persons of ordinary skill in the art may still derive other drawings
from these accompanying drawings without creative efforts.
FIG. 1(a) is a schematic diagram of a communications system according to an embodiment
of the present invention;
FIG. 1(b) is a schematic diagram of another communications system according to an
embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a base station according to an embodiment
of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal according to an embodiment
of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a control information sending method according to an embodiment
of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of resource division according to an embodiment of the
present invention;
FIG. 5(a) is a schematic diagram of resource scheduling according to an embodiment
of the present invention;
FIG. 5(b) is a schematic diagram of another type of resource scheduling according
to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 5(c) is a schematic diagram of still another type of resource scheduling according
to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of yet another type of resource scheduling according
to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a scheduling resource time granularity of a first
network according to an embodiment of the present invention; and
FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a communications apparatus according to an embodiment
of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
[0016] To make the invention objectives and specific technical solutions of the present
invention clearer, the following further clearly and completely describes the technical
solutions with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific implementations.
Apparently, the described implementations are merely some rather than all of the embodiments
of the present invention. All other embodiments obtained by persons of ordinary skill
in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention without creative efforts
shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.
[0017] An application scenario embodiment of the embodiments of the present invention is:
there are at least two types of networks in a communications system, namely, a first
network and a second network, and the two types of networks have different scheduling
resource time granularities. The scheduling resource time granularity may also be
referred to as a resource scheduling unit or a minim scheduling unit (minimum scheduling
unit, MSU) and is a transmission channel dimension that represents a minimum data
transmission time. Specifically, the scheduling resource time granularity refers to
a length of a transmission block that can be independently demodulated on a radio
link, for example, a transmission time interval (transmission time interval, TTI)
on a Long Term Evolution (long term evolution, LTE) network. A coverage area of the
first network and a coverage area of the second network are overlapped. A first radio
access technology (radio access technology, RAT) supported by the first network and
a second RAT supported by the second network may be the same or may be different,
but the first network and the second network are in different carrier ranges. In addition,
one base station may provide a service for both the first network and the second network,
or a first base station provides a service for the first network and a second base
station provides a service for the second network.
[0018] Optionally, the aforementioned first base station may be a macro base station, and
the second base station may be a small cell. Both a transmit power and a coverage
area of the small cell are less than those of the macro base station, for example,
the small cell may be a home evolved NodeB (home evolved NodeB, HeNodeB), a micro
base station (micro base station), an access point (access point, AP), or a pico base
station (pico base station).
[0019] Optionally, the first network or the second network may be specifically a Code Division
Multiple Access (code division multiple access, CDMA) network, a Time Division Multiple
Access (time division multiple access, TDMA) network, a Frequency Division Multiple
Access (frequency division multiple access, FDMA) network, an Orthogonal Frequency-Division
Multiple Access (orthogonal frequency-division multiple access, OFDMA) network, or
a Single Carrier Frequency-Division Multiple Access (single carrier FDMA, SC-FDMA)
network, or another network. Terms "network" and "system" may be replaced with others.
Wireless technologies such as the Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (universal terrestrial
radio access, UTRA) and CDMA2000, may be implemented on the CDMA network. UTRA may
include CDMA (WCDMA) and other variations of CDMA. CDMA2000 may cover the Interim
Standard (interim standard, IS) 2000 (IS-2000), the IS-95 standard, and the IS-856.
Wireless technologies, such as the Global System for Mobile Communications (global
system for mobile communication, GSM), may be implemented on the TDMA network. Wireless
technologies, such as the Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (evolved UTRA,
E-UTRA), the Ultra Mobile Broadband (ultra mobile broadband, UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi),
IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, and Flash OFDMA, may be implemented on the OFDMA
network. UTRA and E-UTRA are UMTS and evolved-edition of UMTS. A new-edition UMTS
to which E-UTRA is applied is used in LTE and LTE advanced (LTE Advanced, LTE-A) defined
in 3GPP. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A, and GSM are described and recorded in documents
of the 3GPP standardization organization. CDMA2000 and UMB are described and recorded
in documents of the 3GPP2 standardization organization. The first network or the second
network may also be a new-generation network such as the fifth generation (the fifth
generation, 5G) network.
[0020] Further, there is a terminal in the communications system. The terminal may be in
both the coverage area of the first network and the coverage area of the second network,
that is, both the first network and the second network can provide a service for the
terminal. The terminal may also be referred to as user equipment (user equipment,
UE), a mobile station (mobile station), a subscriber unit (subscriber unit), a cellular
phone (cellular phone), a smartphone (smart phone), a wireless data card, a personal
digital assistant (personal digital assistant, PDA) computer, a tablet, a wireless
modem (modem), a handheld (handheld) device, a laptop computer(laptop computer), a
cordless phone (cordless phone), a wireless local loop (wireless local loop, WLL)
station, or the like.
[0021] For example, as shown in FIG. 1(a), FIG. 1(a) is a diagram of an application scenario
in which a coverage area of a first network and a coverage area of a second network
are overlapped, the first network and the second network are controlled by a same
base station, and a terminal is on an overlapped part of the coverage area of the
first network and the coverage area of the second network; as shown in FIG. 1(b),
FIG. 1(b) is a diagram of an application scenario in which a coverage area of a first
network and a coverage area of a second network are overlapped, a first base station
provides a service for the first network, a second base station provides a service
for the second network, the first base station is a macro base station, the second
base station is a small cell, and a terminal is on an overlapped part of the coverage
area of the first network and the coverage area of the second network.
[0022] Because problems, such as information transmission overload and transmission reliability
decrease, occur on the second network, control information of the second network needs
to be transmitted with help from the first network, so as to perform resource scheduling
on the second network for the terminal.
[0023] For example, the following scenario may be considered: to meet an increasingly harsher
demand for low-latency transmission of a communications system, a scheduling resource
time granularity is designed to be shorter on a new-generation network or some existing
networks. For example, a scheduling resource time granularity (that is, TTI) on a
current LTE network is 1 ms, but in the further, a scheduling resource time granularity
may be designed to be less than 1 ms, for example 0.1 ms. If this form of scheduling
resource time granularity is applied to a new-generation network on which a high-frequency
band is used for communication, a transmission latency of the communications system
can surely be reduced. However, high-frequency communication is prone to be affected
by a transmission environment; as a result, using a high-frequency band for communication
may lead to loss of information that is being transmitted. To resolve the foregoing
problem, a feasible method is that control information of a network on which a high
frequency is used for communication is transmitted on a network on which a low frequency
is used for communication.
[0024] In the prior art, an LTE network has been capable of implementing carrier aggregation
and cross-carrier scheduling methods to make full use of channel resources of two
carriers. For example, scheduling for a terminal in a primary component carrier cell
and a secondary component carrier cell is implemented in a physical downlink common
control channel (physical downlink common control channel, PDCCCH) or an enhanced
physical downlink common control channel (enhanced physical downlink common control
channel, EPDCCCH) manner. However, currently, scheduling is still performed on a same
network no matter in the PDCCCH manner or the EPDCCCH manner. What is more important
is: a prerequisite for implementing cross-carrier scheduling in these two manners
is that lengths of TTIs corresponding to the two types of carriers have to be the
same.
[0025] According to the solutions provided in the embodiments of the present invention,
control information of a network on which a high frequency is used for communication
can be transmitted on a network on which a low frequency is used for communication,
so that cross-network resource scheduling can be implemented on different networks
on which different scheduling resource time granularities are used.
[0026] To resolve the foregoing problem, an embodiment of the present invention provides
a base station 200. The base station 200 may be the base station that provides a service
for the first network and the second network or may be the first base station that
provides a service only for the first network in the application scenario embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 2, the base station200 includes a processing unit 210 and a transceiver
unit 220. An embodiment of the present invention further provides a terminal 300.
The terminal 300 may be the terminal in the application scenario embodiment. As shown
in FIG. 3, the terminal 300 includes a transceiver unit 310 and a processing unit
320. In this embodiment of the present invention, the processing unit 210 and the
transceiver unit 220 are included in the base station 200, and the processing unit
320 and the transceiver unit 310 are included in the terminal 300. Therefore, an operation
performed by the processing unit 210 or the transceiver unit 220 may be regarded as
an operation of the base station 200, and an operation performed by the processing
unit 320 or the transceiver unit 310 may be regarded as an operation of the terminal
300. In this embodiment of the present invention, the processing unit 210 in the base
station 200 may be implemented by a processor in the base station 200, and the transceiver
unit 220 may be implemented by a transceiver in the base station 200; the processing
unit 320 in the terminal 300 may be implemented by a processor in the terminal 300,
and the transceiver unit 310 may be implemented by a transceiver in the terminal 300.
[0027] FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a control information sending method according to an embodiment
of the present invention. The method may be applied to the application scenario embodiment
of the present invention, and is implemented cooperatively by the base station 200
in the embodiment of the present invention in FIG. 2 and the terminal 300 in the embodiment
of the present invention in FIG. 3. The method includes the following steps.
[0028] S401. The base station 200 determines a first resource in a first network, where
the first resource is located in a first scheduling resource time granularity of the
first network.
[0029] To transmit control information of a second network on the first network, the base
station 200 needs to determine a suitable first resource on the first network to transmit
the control information. The first resource may also be referred to as a cross-carrier
scheduling resource. In addition, a determining manner in S401 may be that the base
station 200 obtains configuration information of the first resource on the first network,
or may be that the base station200 allocates configuration information of the first
resource on the first network by itself. This is not limited herein.
[0030] Optionally, the first resource includes a downlink resource. When the first resource
on the first network includes a downlink resource, frequency-division multiplexing
may be implemented on a channel mapped onto the first resource and a physical downlink
shared channel (physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH) of the first network. For
example, the first resource on the first network is mapped onto an EPDCCCH. The PDSCH
of the first network is a channel used to transmit data of the first network and has
a large capacity. Therefore, channel utilization of the first network can be improved
if the frequency-division multiplexing is implemented on the channel mapped onto the
first resource and the PDSCH. Optionally, a processing unit 210 of the base station
200 is configured to determine the first resource on the first network, where the
first resource is located in the first scheduling resource time granularity of the
first network.
[0031] S402. The base station 200 sends downlink control information of a second network
to the terminal 300 on the first resource.
[0032] The downlink control information sent on the first resource is used to schedule a
resource in a first scheduling resource time granularity of the second network, and
a length of a scheduling resource time granularity of the first network is different
from a length of a scheduling resource time granularity of the second network.
[0033] To achieve an objective of scheduling data of the second network on the first network,
the base station 200 sends the downlink control information of the second network
to the terminal 300 on the first resource of the first network.
[0034] If the base station 200 is a base station that provides a service for the first network
and the second network, the base station 200 can learn of the downlink control information
of the second network by itself; if the base station 200 is a first base station that
can provide a service only for the first network, the base station 200 may obtain
the downlink control information of the second network in the following manner: the
base station 200 receives the downlink control information sent by a second base station
that provides a service for the second network, so as to send the downlink control
information to the terminal 300 by using the first resource.
[0035] Optionally, the downlink control information sent to the terminal 300 by the base
station 200 is downlink grant information.
[0036] The downlink grant information may include information about resources (including
time-domain, frequency-domain, and space-domain resources, and the like) corresponding
to downlink scheduling data that is of the terminal 300 and that is on the second
network. The information about the resources corresponding to the downlink scheduling
data may include: a frequency-domain location, a time-domain location, or a space-domain
location. The downlink grant information may further include: identifier information
of the terminal 300 (used to make the terminal 300 know whether the scheduling grant
information is information belonging to the terminal 300), a modulation and coding
scheme (indicating a modulation manner and a coding manner that are used for transmitting
data by the terminal 300), a redundancy version, a new data indicator (indicating
whether a current block is new data or retransmitted data), a transmission block size,
hybrid automatic repeat request (hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ) information
(indicating a current HARQ process number), and the like. In this case, in a time
domain, the downlink grant information carried on the first resource is sent to the
terminal 300 by the base station 200 before or at the same time as the first scheduling
resource time granularity of the second network, where the first scheduling resource
time granularity of the second network is scheduled by using the downlink grant information,
and the first scheduling resource time granularity of the second network carries downlink
data scheduled by using the downlink grant information.
[0037] Certainly, in an exception, a current network has already been capable of sending
downlink grant information a little later than downlink data; therefore, in rare special
cases, the downlink grant information may be sent a little later than the downlink
data in the first scheduling resource time granularity of the second network.
[0038] The downlink control information sent to the terminal 300 by the base station 200
may alternatively be uplink grant information. The uplink grant information may include
information about resources (including time-domain, frequency-domain, and space-domain
resources, and the like) corresponding to uplink scheduling data that is of the terminal
300 and that is on the second network. The information about the resources corresponding
to the uplink scheduling data may include: a frequency-domain location, a time-domain
location, or a space-domain location. The uplink grant information may further include:
identifier information of the terminal 300 (used to make the terminal 300 know whether
the scheduling grant information is information belonging to the terminal 300), a
modulation and coding scheme (indicating a modulation manner and a coding manner that
are used for transmitting data by the terminal 300), a redundancy version, a new data
indicator (indicating whether a current block is new data or retransmitted data),
a transmission block size, HARQ information (indicating a current HARQ process number),
and the like. In this case, in a time domain, the uplink grant information carried
on the first resource is sent to the terminal by the base station before or at the
same time as the first scheduling resource time granularity of the second network,
where the first scheduling resource time granularity of the second network is scheduled
by using the uplink grant information, and the first scheduling resource time granularity
of the second network carries uplink data scheduled by using the uplink grant information.
[0039] Certainly, the downlink control information sent to the terminal 300 by the base
station 200 may alternatively be a downlink acknowledgement (acknowledgement, ACK),
or a downlink negative acknowledgement (negative acknowledgement, NACK). In this case,
in a time domain, the downlink ACK or downlink NACK carried on the first resource
is sent to the terminal 300 by the base station 200 after the first scheduling resource
time granularity of the second network, where the first scheduling resource time granularity
of the second network is scheduled by using the downlink ACK or downlink NACK and
before the terminal 300 uploads uplink data that has a same hybrid automatic repeat
request identity (hybrid automatic repeat request identity, HARQ ID) as the first
scheduling resource time granularity of the second network. The first scheduling resource
time granularity of the second network carries uplink data to be responded by the
downlink ACK or the downlink NACK.
[0040] Optionally, when one piece of downlink control information is sent on the first resource,
one scheduling resource time granularity of the second network is scheduled by using
the downlink control information. In this case, the first resource corresponds to
one scheduling resource time granularity of the second network.
[0041] When M pieces of downlink control information are sent on the first resource, M scheduling
resource time granularities of the second network are scheduled by using the downlink
control information, where M is a positive integer greater than 1. Each piece of downlink
control information is used to schedule one scheduling resource time granularity of
the second network. In this case, the first resource corresponds to M scheduling resource
time granularities of the second network.
[0042] Optionally, the first scheduling resource time granularity of the first network includes
a plurality of first resources, and the plurality of first resources are grouped into
a first resource set.
[0043] When the length of the scheduling resource time granularity of the first network
is N times the length of the scheduling resource time granularity of the second network,
the first scheduling resource time granularity of the first network may include N
first resources. N is a positive integer greater than 1.
[0044] For easy implementation performed by persons skilled in the art, the following provides
several more specific embodiments.
[0045] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of resource scheduling according to the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 5, both a scheduling resource time granularity of a first network
and a scheduling resource time granularity of a second network may be referred to
as a TTI. For example, a TTI of the first network is greater than a TTI of the second
network, and the TTI of the first network is twice the TTI of the second network.
Frequency-division multiplexing is performed on a channel, mapped onto a first resource
that is on the first network and that is used to send control information of the second
network, and a PDSCH of the first network. One TTI of the first network (the TTI of
the first network is referred to as a TTIA herein) includes two first resources that
are referred to as an RA1 and an RA2 respectively herein. A length of each first resource
in a time domain is equal to the TTI of the second network, and the TTI of the second
network is referred to as a TTIB herein. The figure shows two TTIs of the second network,
namely, a TTIB1 and a TTIB2. Certainly, lengths of the RA1 and the RA2 may also be
different. This is not limited herein. The base station 200 instructs, by using the
first network, the terminal 300 to receive downlink data in the TTIB1 and the TTIB2
of the second network. In this case, downlink control information sent on the first
resource is downlink grant information.
[0046] As shown in FIG. 5(a), the base station 200 sends, on the RA1, downlink grant information
that is used to schedule the TTIB1, and sends, on the RA2, downlink grant information
that is used to schedule the TTIB2, and then, the base station 200 sends, by using
the first network, the downlink grant information corresponding to the TTIB1 and the
downlink grant information corresponding to the TTIB2 to the terminal 300.
[0047] Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 5(b), the base station 200 sends, on the RA1, downlink
grant information that is used to schedule the TTIB2, and the base station 200 sends,
by using the first network, the downlink grant information corresponding to the TTIB2
to the terminal 300. In this case, in the time domain, only that the downlink grant
information is sent before or at the same time as the TTI of the second network needs
to be ensured, where the TTI of the second network is scheduled by using the downlink
grant information. Certainly, the base station 200 may send, on the RA1, the downlink
grant information that is used to schedule the TTIB2, and may further send, on the
RA1, downlink grant information that is used to schedule the TTIB1, and then, the
base station 200 sends, by using the first network, the downlink grant information
that is used to schedule the TTIB1 and the downlink grant information that is used
to schedule the TTIB2 to the terminal 300.
[0048] Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 5(c), on a basis of maintaining a correspondence
that the TTI of the first network is twice the TTI of the second network, four consecutive
TTIs of the second network are obtained by extension and are displayed in the time
domain, namely, the TTIB1, the TTIB2, a TTIB3, and a TTIB4. In this case, the base
station 200 sends, on the RA2, downlink grant information that is used to schedule
the TTIB3. Certainly, the base station 200 may further send, on the RA2, downlink
grant information that is used to schedule the TTIB4, that is, in the time domain,
the downlink grant information and the scheduled TTI of the second network may be
separated by one or more TTIs of the second network, only provided that the downlink
grant information is sent before or at the same time as the scheduled TTI the second
network.
[0049] When other conditions of the scenario in FIG. 5 keep unchanged, if a resource that
is on the first network and that is used to send the control information of the second
network is mapped onto a PDCCH of the first network, a resource scheduling manner
may be shown in FIG. 6. In FIG. 6, there may be two first resources in the PDCCH,
which are respectively referred to as an RA3 and an RA4 herein. The downlink grant
information used to schedule the TTIB1 is sent on the RA3, and the downlink grant
information used to schedule the TTIB2 is sent on RA4. The PDSCH of the first network
may still be used to transmit data information of the first network.
[0050] It should be noted that the scheduling resource time granularity of the first network
and the scheduling resource time granularity of the second network may be in a non-integer
multiple correspondence, or the scheduling resource time granularity of the first
network may be less than the scheduling resource time granularity of the second network.
This does not affect implementation of the present invention.
[0051] In addition, the first resource on the first network can be used by the base station
200 to send the downlink control information of the second network to the terminal
300, and can further be used by the base station 200 to send downlink control information
of the first network to the terminal 300. There is no strict execution sequence for
the steps, and both the steps may be performed in an implementation process of the
present invention.
[0052] In this way, the base station 200 can send the downlink control information of the
first network and the second network to the terminal 300 by using the first resource,
so that resource utilization is improved.
[0053] Alternatively, the first resource can further be used by the base station 200 to
send downlink control information to another terminal that can receive a service from
the first network. In this way, the resource utilization can also be improved.
[0054] It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present invention, when one resource
scheduling time granularity of the first network includes a plurality of first resources,
the plurality of first resources may be consecutive or may be inconsecutive in the
time domain.
[0055] In addition, in the embodiments described in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, first resources with
a same frequency-domain location and different time-domain locations are grouped into
a first resource set. Similarly, first resources with a same time-domain location
and different frequency-domain locations can also be grouped into a first resource
set and can also achieve the objectives of the present invention. No limitation is
imposed herein.
[0056] Optionally, a transceiver unit 220 of the base station 200 is configured to send
the downlink control information of the second network to the terminal 300 on the
first resource.
[0057] The downlink control information sent on the first resource is used to schedule a
resource in a first scheduling resource time granularity of the second network, and
a length of the scheduling resource time granularity of the first network is different
from a length of the scheduling resource time granularity of the second network.
[0058] A transceiver unit 310 of the terminal 300 is configured to receive the downlink
control information of the second network that is sent to the terminal 300 by the
base station 200 on the first resource.
[0059] According to the technical solution provided in this embodiment of the present invention,
the base station determines a resource on the first network, and sends the downlink
control information of the second network on the resource, so that scheduling is implemented
across two networks with different scheduling resource time granularities. Therefore,
control information can be transmitted when the second network encounters a problem
such as overload or low reliability of communication, thereby ensuring that the control
information of the second network can be accurately transmitted to user equipment.
[0060] In order that the terminal 300 can learn of a specific location of the first resource
set on the first network, so that the terminal 300 can receive the downlink control
information of the second network at the location in a timely manner, before the base
station 200 sends the downlink control information of the second network to the terminal
300 on the first resource, the method may further include the following step:
sending, by the base station 200, configuration information to the terminal 300, where
the configuration information is used to indicate the location of the first resource
set to the terminal 300.
[0061] Optionally, the configuration information includes at least one of time-domain location
indication information of the resource or frequency-domain location indication information
of the resource.
[0062] The time-domain location indication information of the resource may be specifically
a quantity and locations of symbols that are used by the base station 200 to transmit
the control information of the second network in the scheduling resource time granularity
of the first network. The frequency-domain location indication information of the
resource may be specifically a quantity and locations of subcarriers that are used
by the base station 200 to transmit the control information of the second network
in the scheduling resource time granularity of the first network. As shown in FIG.
7, FIG. 7 is one scheduling resource time granularity of the first network. The scheduling
resource time granularity may be described from a time-domain perspective or a frequency-domain
perspective. A grey part in the figure may be a first resource set that is used to
transmit the control information of the second network. The entire location of the
resource can be indicated by the time-domain location indication information of the
resource, the frequency-domain location indication information of the resource, or
the time-domain location indication information of the resource and the frequency-domain
location indication information of the resource.
[0063] Certainly, the time-domain location indication information or the frequency-domain
location indication information may specifically indicate, in a form of a bit map
to the terminal 300, which symbols or which subcarriers are grouped into the first
resource set. For example, if a bit in the bit map is "1", the "1" represents a symbol
corresponding to the bit, or represents that a carrier belongs to the first resource
set, or the like.
[0064] The configuration information is specifically sent in the following manner: when
the base station 200 controls the first network and the second network, the base station
200 may send the configuration information of the resource to the terminal 300 by
using the first network, or the base station 200 may send the configuration information
of the resource to the terminal 300 by using the second network; when the base station
200 can control only the first network, the base station 200 may send the configuration
information of the resource to the terminal 300 by using the first network, or the
base station 200 may communicate with a base station (for example, the second base
station in FIG. 1(b)) controlling the second network and send the configuration information
of the resource to the base station controlling the second network, and then, the
base station controlling the second network sends the configuration information to
the terminal 300.
[0065] Further, the base station 200 may send, by using the first network or the second
network, the configuration information to the terminal 300 by using a control channel,
broadcast signaling, or radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) signaling.
[0066] A specific implementation may be as follows:
- (1) By using the control channel
When accessing the first network or the second network, the terminal 300 is allocated
a radio network temporary identifier (radio network temporary identifier, RNTI).
The base station 200 notifies the terminal 300 of the configuration information by
using a control channel of the first network or the second network. The configuration
information may be carried in downlink control information (downlink control information,
DCI).
The terminal 300 demodulates the DCI by using the allocated RNTI, to obtain the configuration
information.
- (2) By using the broadcast signaling
The base station 200 may send the configuration information of the resource to the
terminal 300 by using broadcast signaling of the first network or the second network.
The broadcast signaling may be sent periodically, so as to update the configuration
information of the resource in a timely manner.
- (3) By using the RRC signaling
The base station 200 may send the configuration information of the resource to the
terminal 300 by using RRC signaling of the first network or the second network.
[0067] Optionally, the transceiver unit 220 of the base station 200 is configured to send
the configuration information to the terminal 300.
[0068] Optionally, the transceiver unit 310 of the terminal 300 is configured to receive
the configuration information sent by the base station 200.
[0069] That the terminal 300 receives the configuration information sent by the base station
200 is actually an implementation of determining the location of the first resource
on the first network by the terminal 300.
[0070] That the base station 200 sends the configuration information to the terminal 300
is an optional method step. Therefore, if the step is not performed, the terminal
300 can also determine the location of the first resource on the first network by
means of preset protocol configuration, or the like.
[0071] Optionally, when the downlink control information in S402 is the downlink grant information,
after the terminal 300 receives the downlink control information of the second network
that is sent to the terminal 300 by the base station 200 on the first resource, the
method may further include:
receiving, by the terminal 300, the downlink data of the second network according
to a location that is of downlink data of the second network and that is indicated
by the downlink grant information, where the downlink data of the second network is
scheduled by using the downlink grant information, and the downlink data is in the
first scheduling resource time granularity of the second network.
[0072] Optionally, when the downlink control information in S402 is the uplink grant information,
after the terminal 300 receives the downlink control information of the second network
that is sent to the terminal 300 by the base station 200 on the first resource, the
method may further include:
sending, by the terminal 300 according to a location on which uplink data is to be
sent and that is indicated by the uplink grant information, the uplink data to the
first scheduling resource time granularity of the second network, where the first
scheduling resource time granularity of the second network is scheduled by using the
uplink grant information.
[0073] Optionally, when the downlink control information in S402 is the downlink ACK, after
the terminal 300 receives the downlink control information of the second network that
is sent to the terminal 300 by the base station 200 on the first resource, the method
may further include:
determining, by the terminal 300 according to the downlink ACK, that to-be-responded
uplink data that is in a scheduling resource time granularity of the second network
and that is scheduled by using the downlink ACK is properly received.
[0074] Optionally, when the downlink control information in S402 is the downlink NACK, after
the terminal 300 receives the downlink control information of the second network that
is sent to the terminal 300 by the base station 200 on the first resource, the method
may further include:
determining, by the terminal 300 according to the downlink NACK, that to-be-responded
uplink data that is in a scheduling resource time granularity of the second network
and that is scheduled by using the downlink NACK is not properly received. Further,
the terminal 300 may choose to retransmit data in the scheduling resource time granularity
of the second network, or when a quantity of retransmission times has already reached
a preset maximum quantity of transmission times, the terminal 300 determines to cancel
retransmission of data in the scheduling resource time granularity of the second network.
Optionally, the transceiver unit 310 of the terminal 300 is configured to receive
the downlink data of the second network, where the downlink data of the second network
is scheduled by using the downlink grant information, and the downlink data is in
the scheduling resource time granularity of the second network.
[0075] Optionally, the transceiver unit 310 of the terminal 300 is configured to send the
uplink data to the first scheduling resource time granularity of the second network,
where the first scheduling resource time granularity of the second network is scheduled
by using the uplink grant information.
[0076] Optionally, a processing unit 320 of the terminal 300 is configured to determine,
according to the downlink ACK, that the to-be-responded uplink data that is in the
scheduling resource time granularity of the second network and that is scheduled by
using the downlink ACK is properly received.
[0077] Optionally, the processing unit 320 of the terminal 300 is configured to determine,
according to the downlink NACK, that the to-be-responded uplink data that is in the
scheduling resource time granularity of the second network and that is scheduled by
using the downlink NACK is not properly received.
[0078] Compared with the base station 200 that sends the downlink control information of
the second network to the terminal 300 on the first resource on the first network,
the terminal 300 can also send uplink control information of the second network to
the base station 200 on the first network in a similar manner.
[0079] Optionally, the technical solution provided in this embodiment of the present invention
may further include the following steps:
determining, by the base station 200, a second resource in the first network, where
the second resource is located in a second scheduling resource time granularity of
the first network; and
sending, by the terminal 300, the uplink control information of the second network
to the base station 200 on the second resource, where
the uplink control information sent on the second resource is used to indicate information
about a resource in a second scheduling resource time granularity of the second network.
[0080] The uplink control information includes: identifier information of the terminal (used
to make the base station 200 know which terminal the control information belongs to),
uplink ACK information, uplink NACK information, or channel state information (channel
state information, CSI).
[0081] When the terminal 300 sends the uplink control information, a manner of allocating
the second resource is corresponding to a manner of allocating the first resource,
and details are not described herein again.
[0082] In addition, in this embodiment of the present invention, the second resource may
be partially overlapped or entirely overlapped with the first resource; or the first
scheduling resource time granularity of the first network may be the second scheduling
resource time granularity of the first network. This is not limited herein.
[0083] If the base station 200 is the first base station that can provide a service only
for the first network, after receiving the uplink control information, the base station
200 may forward the uplink control information to the second base station on the second
network.
[0084] Optionally, the processing unit 210 of the base station 200 is configured to determine
the second resource on the first network, where the second resource is located in
the second scheduling resource time granularity of the first network.
[0085] Optionally, the transceiver unit 310 of the terminal 300 is configured to send the
uplink control information of the second network to the base station 200 on the second
resource. The uplink control information sent on the second resource is used to indicate
the information about the resource in the second scheduling resource time granularity
of the second network. The terminal 300 sends the uplink control information of the
second network on the second resource, so that scheduling is implemented across two
networks with different scheduling resource time granularities. Therefore, control
information can be transmitted when the second network encounters a problem such as
overload or low reliability of communication, thereby ensuring that the control information
of the second network can be accurately transmitted to user equipment.
[0086] As shown in FIG. 8, an embodiment of the present invention provides a communications
apparatus 8, including a processor 81 and a memory 82. The processor 81 and the memory
82 are connected by using a bus 83. The communications apparatus 8 may be the base
station 200 in the foregoing embodiments of the present invention, or may be the terminal
300 in the foregoing embodiments of the present invention.
[0087] When the communications apparatus 8 is the base station 200, the memory 82 is configured
to store instructions of all methods executed by the base station 200 in the embodiment
of the present invention in FIG. 4, to make the processor 81 execute the methods.
[0088] When the communications apparatus 8 is the terminal 300, the memory 82 is configured
to store all methods executed by the terminal 300 in the embodiment of the present
invention in FIG. 4, to make the processor 81 execute the methods.
[0089] In addition, the communications apparatus 8 may further include a transmitter circuit
84, a receiver circuit 85, an antenna 86, and the like. The processor 81 controls
an operation of the communications apparatus 8. The processor 81 may also be referred
to as a CPU (Central Processing Unit, central processing unit). The memory 82 may
include a read-only memory and a random access memory, and provides an instruction
and data for the processor 81. A part of the memory 82 may further include a non-volatile
random access memory (NVRAM). In a specific application, the transmitter circuit 84
and the receiver circuit 85 may be coupled to the antenna 86. All components of the
communications apparatus 8 are coupled together by using the bus 83, where the bus
system 83 includes not only a data bus but also a power supply bus, a control bus,
a state signal bus, and the like. However, for clear description, various buses are
represented by the bus system 83 in the figure.
[0090] The method disclosed in the foregoing embodiments of the present invention may be
applied to the processor 81, or implemented by the processor 81. The processor 81
may be an integrated circuit chip with a signal processing capability. In an implementation
process, the steps of the foregoing method may be implemented by using an integrated
logical circuit of hardware in the processor 81, or by using an instruction in a software
manner. The foregoing processor 81 may be a general purpose processor, a digital signal
processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable
gate array (FPGA) or another programmable logic device, a discrete gate or a transistor
logic device, or a discrete hardware component.
[0091] Persons skilled in the art may further understand that various illustrative logical
blocks (illustrative logic block) and steps (step) that are listed in the embodiments
of the present invention may be implemented by using electronic hardware, computer
software, or a combination thereof. In order to clearly display the interchangeability
(interchangeability) between the hardware and the software, functions of the foregoing
various illustrative components (illustrative components) and steps have been generally
described. Whether the functions are implemented by using hardware or software depends
on particular applications and a design requirement of the entire system. Persons
skilled in the art may use different methods to implement the functions for each particular
application, but it should not be considered that the implementation goes beyond the
protection scope of the embodiments of the present invention.
[0092] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in the embodiments
of the present invention may implement or operate the described functions by using
a general processing unit, a digital signal processing unit, an application-specific
integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or another programmable
logical apparatus, a discrete gate or transistor logic, a discrete hardware component,
or a design of any combination thereof. The general processing unit may be a microprocessing
unit. Optionally, the general processing unit may be any conventional processing unit,
controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processing unit may also be implemented
by a combination of computing apparatuses, such as a digital signal processing unit
and a microprocessing unit, multiple microprocessing units, one or more microprocessing
units with a digital signal processing unit core, or any other similar configuration.
[0093] Steps of the methods or algorithms described in the embodiments of the present invention
may be directly embedded into hardware, a software module executed by a processing
unit, or a combination thereof. The software module may be stored in a RAM memory,
a flash memory, a ROM memory, an EPROM memory, an EEPROM memory, a register, a hard
disk, a removable magnetic disk, a CD-ROM, or a storage medium of any other form in
the art. For example, the storage medium may connect to a processing unit so that
the processing unit may read information from the storage medium and write information
to the storage medium. Optionally, the storage medium may be further integrated into
a processing unit. The processing unit and the storage medium may be configured in
an ASIC, and the ASIC may be configured in a user terminal. Optionally, the processing
unit and the storage medium may also be configured in different components of the
user terminal.
[0094] In one or more examples of designs, the foregoing functions described in the embodiments
of the present invention may be implemented by using hardware, software, firmware,
or any combination thereof. If the present invention is implemented by software, these
functions may be stored in a computer-readable medium or are transmitted to the computer-readable
medium in a form of one or more instructions or code. The computer-readable medium
is either a computer storage medium or a communications medium that enables a computer
program to move from one place to another. The storage medium may be an available
medium that may be accessed by any general or special computer. For example, such
a computer-readable medium may include but is not limited to a RAM, a ROM, an EEPROM,
a CD-ROM, or another optical disc storage, a disk storage or another magnetic storage
apparatus, or any other medium that may be used to bear or store program code, where
the program code is in a form of an instruction or a data structure or in another
form that can be read by a general or special computer or a general or special processing
unit. In addition, any connection may be appropriately defined as a computer-readable
medium. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, a server, or another
remote resource by using a coaxial cable, an optical fiber, a twisted pair, a digital
subscriber line (DSL) or in a wireless manner such as infrared, radio, or microwave,
the software is also included in a defined computer-readable medium. The disc (disc)
and the disk (disk) include a compressed disk, a laser disk, an optical disc, a DVD,
a floppy disk, and a Blu-ray disc. The disk generally copies data by a magnetic means,
and the disc generally copies data optically by a laser means. The foregoing combination
may also be included in the computer-readable medium.
[0095] According to the foregoing description of this specification in the present invention,
a person skilled in the art may use or implement the content of the present invention.
Any modification based on the disclosed content shall be considered obvious in the
art.